Based upon true life stories and inspired by Dr. Oliver Sacks’ book of the same name, Tobias Picker’sAwakenings is an engrossing and lyrical score that features choreography by Aletta Collins and sees its premiere on September 22 at the Lowry in Salford, UK. The premiere performance marks the beginning of a season long tour for the new ballet throughout the UK in 2010/11. Rambert’s website explains the work's origins:

In 1918 a mysterious sleeping-sickness epidemic swept across the world leaving hundreds of survivors in an unexplained paralysis. This moving new work is inspired by the powerful true stories of a group of very individual patients, catapulted temporarily but dramatically from their long slumber into their own emotionally-charged awakenings.

Rambert presents the London première of Awakenings at Sadler’s Wells on November 9 in addition to 24 more performances at eight different venues in the UK as part of the fall tour. The tour continues into the spring of 2011 with dates and venues to be announced.

Learn more on the music of Tobias Picker at www.schott-music.com and www.tobiaspicker.com.

Visit the Rambert Dance Company's Awakenings micro site and their YouTube channel to find out more on the ballet.

Choreographer Aletta Collins on Awakenings.

Learn more about Dr. Oliver Sacks here.

Schott Music's most recent Aktuell contains an extensive repertoire recommendations feature for dance companies including new works and classics from the Schott Music catalogue. View the Aktuell here.

Tobias Picker's adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved children's story sees a run of nine performances from July 26 through August 14 at England's Opera Holland Park in a new chamber orchestration for seven players. This production is designed specifically to utilize the beautiful scenery of Holland Park’s Yucca Lawn as a natural scenic backdrop.

An ideal introduction for children to opera using a source material that many of them know and love,Fantastic Mr. Fox can no less be savored by opera lovers of every ilk. Picker’s revered lyric gift and natural sense of dramatic arc animates the story of the wily Mr. Fox and his bid to outwit his farmer neighbors. Sure to be an enchanting hour of entertainment for audiences of all ages, the production is conducted by Carl Penlington-Williams and directed by Stephen Barlow.

The Roald Dahl Foundation commissioned Tobias Picker to adapt the story in 1998, and the opera premiered at the Los Angeles Opera in December of that same year marking the first world premiere of an American opera in Los Angeles. Heidi Waleson remarked in The Wall Street Journal following the premiere:

Together [Picker and librettist Donald Sturrock] captured Dahl's spirit in a musical language that challenged, entertained and never pandered, skillfully balancing dark and light. Two entirely new creatures gave Mr. Picker the chance for some particularly inspired writing: Miss Hedgehog (soprano Sari Gruber), who laments her spinsterhood in a touchingly lyrical aria, and Agnes the Digger (Jill Grove), a butch earthmover with a dramatic mezzo range who is even scarier and more powerful than the nasty farmers with their guns. The opera was a captivating and witty entertainment. Oboe themes representing the natural world contrasted with the percussive characterization of the people and the machines. Mr. Picker also made colorful orchestral use of mallet instruments and a piano. The fox family and the quintet of bad guys had catchy ensembles, there were two haunting chorales for a children's chorus of trees, and the fox pair celebrated their victory at the end with, of course, a fox trot.

Read reviews of the Holland Park production from The Independant (UK) and at www.whatsonstage.com.

Visit www.tobiaspicker.com and www.schott-music.com for more on the music of Tobias Picker.

Precise ticketing information on Opera Holland Park’s production of Fantastic Mr. Fox is located atwww.ohp.rbkc.goc.uk.

The music of Tobias Picker travels the world's opera stages this Spring as Emmeline and An American Tragedy see their west coast premieres in California and Fantastic Mr. Fox debuts in its new chamber orchestration at Opera Holland Park in the UK. Read on for a complete breakdown of what is happening and where, below:

Emmeline, Cinnabar Theater, Petaluma, CA, First Night: May 28Following its critically acclaimed performances at New York City's Dicapo Opera Theatre in the Fall of 2009,Emmeline makes its west coast premiere in its new chamber orchestration at the Cinnabar Theater of Petaluma, California for a run of seven performances. Nina Shumann leads the ensemble and Elly Lichenstein directs the production.

An American Tragedy, The Broad Stage at Santa Monica College, CA; First Night: May 8An American Tragedy also travels to California this Spring for its west coast premiere at Santa Monica College. Premiered at The Metropolitan Opera in 2005, An American Tragedy is conducted by Dr. James Martin and directed by Gail Gordon at Santa Monica College's Broad Stage.

Learn more on An American Tragedy here.

Santa Monica College Broad Stage

Fantastic Mr. Fox, Opera Holland Park, UK, First Night: July 26Tobias Picker's adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved children's story sees a run of nine performances this summer at England's Opera Holland Park in a new chamber orchestration for seven players. This production is designed specifically to utilize the beautiful scenery of Holland Park as a natural backdrop.

The reduced orchestration for 15 players of Fantastic Mr. Fox sees more performances in the UK next Fall, as the English Touring Opera presents performances around the UK at the start of their 2010/11 season.

Learn more on Fantastic Mr. Fox here.

Opera Holland Park

English Touring Opera

For more on the music of Tobias Picker, visit www.tobiaspicker.com and www.schott-music.com.

Renowned pianist Ursula Oppens performs the world premiere of Tobias Picker's Three Nocturnes for Ursula this month at City University of New York's Elebash Recital Hall in Manhattan. A longtime Picker collaborator and close friend, Oppens will also engage in a discussion with the composers featured on the program as part of the concert proceedings.

Picker elaborates on the piece's inception:

After I wrote Old and Lost Rivers in 1986, I dedicated it to Ursula Oppens and left the piano manuscript with her doorman as a surprise on her birthday. In February, 2009 I decided to surprise Ms. Oppens once again and gave her these nocturnes on the occasion of her 65th birthday.

Old and Lost Rivers employs the entire keyboard and wide intervals within the key of D flat major. Three Nocturnes for Ursula explores the key of D Major in a similar way but it has an inner voice whose plaintive melody never strays beyond an octave or so.

Three Nocturnes for Ursula also exists in versions for alto flute, English horn, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola and cello all accompanied by piano. In these versions the solo instrument plays the inner melody and the pianist, in the composer's words, "has a much easier time of it!" The concert takes place on Wednesday, November 11 at 7PM.

On November 15, Tobias Picker's opera Emmeline sees its European Premiere in its new chamber orchestration, which just had its world premiere at Dicapo Opera Theatre in September. The European premiere takes place at Hungary's National Theatre and will be broadcast to over 40 countries on Mezzo Television.

For more on the music of Tobias Picker, please visit www.schott-music.com and www.tobiaspicker.com.

Emmeline completed its four-night run at New York's Dicapo Opera Theatre on Sunday, September 13, in a new chamber orchestration. The opera and Dicapo's production garnered widespread critical acclaim. The New York Times' Steve Smith comments:

The story is timeless in its Oedipal implications, yet relatable in scale, and Mr. Picker effectively expresses character nuances and plot twists with powerfully direct vocal lines. His potent orchestral writing evokes atmosphere, underlines conflict and conveys emotional tone with an emphatic directness. Mr. Picker's musical vocabulary is unapologetically conservative but never merely decorative, trivial or dull.

Conducted by Samuel Bill and directed by Robert Alföldi, Artistic Director of Hungary's National Theatre, and featuring soprano Kristin Sampson in the title role, Dicapo's production of Emmeline travels to Szeged, Hungary for its European premiere on November 15 and 16 where it will be telecast to over 40 countries by Mezzo TV.

Visit www.tobiaspicker.com and www.schott-music.com for more on the music of Tobias Picker.

Emmeline returns to the New York stage at Dicapo Opera Theatre for four performances September 10 through September 13. The Dicapo run marks the world premiere of Tobias Picker's landmark American opera in its new chamber orchestration. With a libretto by J.D. McClatchy based on the novel by Judith Rossner, Emmeline relates the true story of a woman ostracized by those in her hometown of Fayette, Maine after a shocking, long held secret becomes public. The opera, Picker's first, is a work that transcends melodrama to lay bare the raw beauty of love. Emmeline premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 1996 to international critical acclaim.

"The New York City Opera should put Emmeline in its permanent repertory. It is a model of its kind."
– Bernard Holland, The New York Times

"The Santa Fe Opera struck gold with the world premiere of Emmeline."
– Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal

"The unquestionable hit of the festival, however, was Picker's Emmeline. Picker's music...is accessible, exquisitely crafted, and it always serves the drama as both accompaniment and commentary... A hugely enjoyable occasion that I would gladly relive."
– Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times (London)

Conducted by Samuel Bill and directed by Robert Alföldi, Artistic Director of Hungary's National Theatre, and featuring soprano Kristin Sampson in the title role, Dicapo's production of Emmelinetravels to Szezged, Hungary for its European premiere on November 15 and 16 where it will be telecast to over 40 countries by Mezzo TV.

For more on the music of Tobias Picker, visit www.tobiaspicker.com and www.schott-music.com.

For precise ticketing information on Dicapo Opera Theatre's production of Emmeline, go towww.dicapo.com.

Boston University's Opera Institute presents four performances this month of the chamber version of Tobias Picker's Thérèse Raquin. With a libretto by Gene Scheer based on the novel by Émile Zola, Picker's opera is a gritty tale of adulterous love and tragedy set in Paris in the late 1800s. The chamber version ofThérèse Raquin premiered in March of 2006 at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House followed by its US premiere one year later at New York's Dicapo Opera Theatre. The work garnered strong reviews along the way, as Anne Midgette wrote in the New York Times:

[An] appropriate darkness emanates from Mr. Picker's adroit music, of a sinister tonality. The vocal writing is sympathetic, particularly in the effective ensembles, while beneath it the orchestra outlines the unspoken tension in taut layerings of figures, turning the emotional screws to echo the increasingly dissonant plot.

The New York Post added:

Inspired work...A worthwhile contemporary American opera. The music of Thérèse Raquin... has real merit, with its Parisian undertones and its fascinating Benjamin Britten-like interwoven ensembles standing out in a score that reveals intriguingly complex dissonance amid hints of atonality.

Conducted by William Lumpkin and directed by Jim Petosa, the performances take place on February 19, 20, 21 and 22 at the Boston University Theatre.

For more information on Tobias Picker, visit his website at www.tobiaspicker.com or www.schott-music.com.

To purchase tickets to the Boston University Opera Institute production of Thérèse Raquin, visitwww.bostontheatrescene.com.

Tobias Picker
Thérèse Raquin (2000)
opera in two acts
2 Sopranos, mezzo-soprano, 2 tenors, baritone and bass
1(pic).1(ca).1(bcl).1(cbsn)-2.0.1(btbn).0-perc(timp)-hp.pno-str
110'
performed in Boston in the new chamber opera version

December 2, 2008

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Comments Off on World Premiere of Tobias Picker’s String Quartet No. 2 in New York

The American String Quartet performs the world premiere of Tobias Picker's String Quartet No. 2 on January 17 at Merkin Concert Hall of New York City's Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts, presented by the Manhattan School of Music. The composer elaborates on the piece's inception:

Following the premiere of my opera An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera, the President of the Manhattan School of Music, Robert Sirota, called me and told me that the American String Quartet had asked him to commission me as part of the school's 90th anniversary celebration. I was very excited because this meant that the first new music I would write after my largest piece ever would be a string quartet for my alma mater. I had originally thought to give the American String Quartet a transcription of some songs, but after hearing them play so beautifully I decided to create something entirely new (at least for me) and to take advantage of the opportunity to re-invent myself through the genre of the string quartet. I embraced the chance to return to chamber music with gusto because I saw this not only as an opportunity to incorporate everything I'd learned writing four grand operas into an intimate genre but also as the starting point of a new direction in my compositional thinking. 20 years separate my first and second quartet and it is not difficult to hear the evolution between the two.

The American String Quartet performs String Quartet No. 2 in two follow up performances at Brooklyn's Bargemusic on January 24 and 25.

To find out more on the music of Tobias Picker go to www.schott-music.com and www.tobiaspicker.com.

Visit www.kaufman-center.org to learn more on the American String Quartet's performance of String Quartet No. 2.

Tobias Picker
String Quartet No. 2 (2008)
Commissioned by Ruth Widder for the Manhattan School of Music and the American String Quartet
13'

December 2, 2008

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Comments Off on Tobias Picker’s Suite for cello and piano and Collected Works for Solo Piano Now Available in Edition Schott

Schott Music is proud to announce new publications of Tobias Picker's Suite for cello and piano, edited by cellist Lyn Harrell and pianist Simon Mulligan, and his Collected Works for solo piano edited by Ursula Oppens, now available in Edition Schott. The Suite for cello and piano was commissioned for Lyn Harrell by a consortium of ten organizations including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, the Ravinia Festival, San Francisco Performances and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Inspired in part by poems of E.E. Cummings, Salvatore Quasimodo and W.D. Merwin, the work received its world premiere by Mr. Harrell in San Francisco's Herbst Theater in January 1999.

The Collected Works for solo piano encompasses the diverse range of Tobias Picker's writing for piano from the virtuosic challenges of his Four Etudes for Ursula to the lyrical simplicity of Old and Lost Rivers, ... when soft voices die ..., and The Blue Hula. An ideal companion to this new piano anthology is the newly released Wergo recording Keys to the City, the complete solo piano works of Tobias Picker performed by Ursula Oppens. Picker comments on his long time collaboration with Ms. Oppens:

My life-long friendship with the legendary pianist Ursula Oppens began in 1973. I was 19. She was 29. We met in New York when she attended a performance of an early chamber concerto of mine. Ursula was the principal pianist for Speculum Musicae, then the premier new music ensemble in the United States. I heard her perform often and saw a great deal of her socially as she, along with many other renowned musicians, was also a friend of my composition teacher at the time, Charles Wuorinen. A few years later during a post-concert party at the pianist Paul Jacob's New York apartment following Speculum's premiere of my Sextet No.3, Ursula took me aside and asked me if I would write a piece for her. I was 22 and thrilled to have another commission. That piece would become "...when soft voices die...".

Contact your favorite online music retailer to order Tobias Picker's Suite for cello and piano, and theCollected Works for solo piano.

Go here to order the Wergo recording Tobias Picker - Keys to the City.

To learn more on the music of Tobias Picker, go to www.schott-music.com and www.tobiaspicker.com.

Tobias Picker - Keys to the City WER 66952Four Etudes for Ursula *Old and Lost Rivers
Three Pieces *Where the Rivers Go *
... when soft voices die ...The Blue Hula *Keys to the City (version for two pianos)*

* First Recordings

September 8, 2008

By admin

Comments Off on Wergo Releases New Recording of Tobias Picker’s Solo Piano Music

Following its European release on Wergo in June, Tobias Picker - Keys to the City sees its North American release on September 9, distributed by Harmonia Mundi. Featuring pianist Ursula Oppens, this comprehensive recording traces an evolution in Tobias Picker's writing for piano from the virtuosic challenges of his Four Etudes for Ursula and the jazzy, urbane landscape of Keys to the City to the lyrical simplicity of Old and Lost Rivers, ... when soft voices die ..., and The Blue Hula. Listeners will also have a rare opportunity to hear the composer performing in the two piano version of Keys to the City. Picker comments:

My life-long friendship with the legendary pianist Ursula Oppens began in 1973. I was 19. She was 29. We met in New York when she attended a performance of an early chamber concerto of mine. Ursula was the principal pianist for Speculum Musicae, then the premier new music ensemble in the United States. I heard her perform often and saw a great deal of her socially as she, along with many other renowned musicians, was also a friend of my composition teacher at the time, Charles Wuorinen. A few years later during a post-concert party at the pianist Paul Jacob’s New York apartment following Speculum’s premiere of my Sextet No.3, Ursula took me aside and asked me if I would write a piece for her. I was 22 and thrilled to have another commission. That piece would become “…when soft voices die…”.

Upcoming for Tobias Picker this season is the world premiere of the new reduced version of his wonderful family opera Fantastic Mr. Fox based on the beloved Roald Dahl story at Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York in December as well as the world premiere of his String Quartet No. 2. by the American String Quartet at Merkin Concert Hall in New York on January 17.

To learn more on the music of Tobias Picker visit www.tobiaspicker.com and www.schott-music.com.

To order Tobias Picker - Keys to the City, go to www.wergo.de or purchase at your favorite online retailer.

Tobias Picker - Keys to the City
Four Etudes for Ursula *Old and Lost Rivers
Three Pieces *Where the Rivers Go *
... when soft voices die ...The Blue Hula *Keys to the City (version for two pianos)*